Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Takes $440,000 Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 2,844 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $440,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth about $14,869,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $458,060,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in NetApp by 106.8% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 262,732 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,136,000 after purchasing an additional 135,715 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its stake in NetApp by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 180,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $19,374,000 after purchasing an additional 21,643 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its stake in NetApp by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 97,086 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $10,397,000 after purchasing an additional 17,520 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Argus raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Evercore set a $210.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $179.77.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $186.86 on Tuesday. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $93.69 and a one year high of $209.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $173.43 and a 200 day moving average of $135.80. The company has a market capitalization of $36.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.38, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.44.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. NetApp’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.93 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 8.700-9.000 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.050-2.150 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 32.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total transaction of $193,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 30,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,872,164.54. The trade was a 3.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.48, for a total value of $533,283.84. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 46,530 shares in the company, valued at $9,514,454.40. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 55,297 shares of company stock worth $8,758,016. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp’s offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company’s product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.